I am going to Italy shortly to get some documents that I cannot seem to get by mail or phone. The birth and marriage record I need exist only in the church, not in the town archive. I am going to use them for Italian dual citizenship. Can I present the church record to the town archive official, and get an official document of the comune? Can anyone give advise as to what to ask for and how to do this. I have only 14 days in Italy to do this. Sorry if this is the wrong forum and thank for comments

Which town are you working in? You're sure that there are no films available for that town, I'm assuming?

And how soon are you going? It's usually good to write and give a heads-up beforehand. Some churches don't even have a full-time staff, they may rotate between towns. And some churches are more....let's say, "cooperative" than others.

I don't suppose you know of any living cousins there either do you? Sometimes a local connection can help you push things through. There are local genealogists that are good at getting this stuff done as well. It may be worth looking into- could be a lot less than going yourself.

PS- Look up Trafford R. Cole on amazon.com. He has a book on Italian records that will give you some additional info.

Thanks for you comments. The years that I need are not on microfilm, 1849-1861. I wrote to the priest, and to the vital records director in italian, telling them I would be in town again and that I wished their help. I have some distant cousins there who I met two years ago there, but I can do this. I just want to know if certified church records will suffice for citizenship purposes, and if not, is there is a process to "create" an official record that I can get familiar with now before I go to Gualdo.

I really don't know what they do in a case like that. I'd assume that if the church records are all that's available that they'd have to accept them, but who knows! They get really picky with this stuff!

I hate to say it but you might have to ask the consulate or consult an expert on this one.

PS- just checked the LDS films. Are you talking about Gualdo in Macerata? If so, did you check the allegati? Sometimes you can go back a few generations with those. They might consider them more "official".

The legal requirements for recognition of Italian citizenship claims made by persons born abroad, but whose births were never registered with an Italian consular agency, vary considerably according to particular circumstances, and also depend upon existing treaties between the Italian Republic and v...

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